EA R'lyeh considerations for a successful MP strat

[KissBlade]

I agree with most of Graeme's posts so no need to repeat anything. I should point out though, I would probably gun up conjuration for voice and then construction right away. Mind Lords effectively are battle mages right off the bat thanks to Enslave Mind so you can actually avoid thaumaturgy for awhile. I would almost dare say you MUST take an amphibious pretender though.

[Belcarl]

thanks for all the answers.

Showah32, the order 3 is very needed because R'lyehs troops requires a lot of gold. Their "chaff" tend to get slaughtered pretty darn quick too, so until you can get some stable summons, you will need to reinforce your army pretty constantly.

The Luck 3 scale could be traded for more dominion or magic paths on the pretender. But I feel that the Aboleths have a higher need of alchemising gems then other nations, so every little extra I can get helps.

I will try out a Wyrm pretender in my next game. I have been going with a w1a1 Kraken. But going to try a W1A1N4 Wyrm, with my eyes on some heavy Naiad warriors summoning once I get Conjuration 5. I believe that with a slight N4 bless they might be more cost effective in an MP game then the Sea trolls. That is ofcourse highly situational

As you pointed out, the conjuration tree gives both Tiamat and Dark knowledge spells. And compared to the Enchantment line lvl 5 conjuration gives a few useful summons within Rylehs reach, where enchantment starts to pay off first at lvl 5 with hidden in snow. Unless one considers the claymen worthy to summon.

Thaum can as noted earlier be avoided because of Mind Lord abilities. Evocation starts to shine first at lvl 5 with Falling frost. Since cold bolt/blast are the only other easy options on the way.

So I'll try Conjuration 5, Construction 4, Evocation 5 in that order. Time to actually play some MP. I will most likely get slaughtered

[Graeme Dice]

Belcarl said:
But going to try a W1A1N4 Wyrm, with my eyes on some heavy Naiad warriors summoning once I get Conjuration 5. I believe that with a slight N4 bless they might be more cost effective in an MP game then the Sea trolls. That is ofcourse highly situational

Naiad warriors are not summoned in greater numbers by a more skilled mage, so you'd probably be best off summoning them with a slave mage, not your pretender. Naiad warriors are also not sacred.

Putting N4 on your wyrm thus doesn't provide you with very much benefit besides earlier access to a thistle mace as the wyrm already has regeneration and lacks protection. You also don't leave yourself with any cushion should he get killed when you only have W1 and A1. He also misses out on mistform which is very useful for him, while mirror images are not particularly good for a low defense unit. Without reinvigoration items and at the minimum skills to cast buffs he gets fatigued very quickly. The benefit of earth magic is that he can forge earth boots for a land-dwelling slave mage, has earthpower so that you only need one reinvigoration item to keep him fighting indefinitely while quickened, and can cast protection spells so that he rarely takes large hits.

[KissBlade]

Claymen are worthy summons.

[Endoperez]

Doesn't Nature increase the amount of regeneration? Or is that only from spells like Personal Regeneration?

[Shovah32]

I believe thats only from spells such as personal regeneraton and strength of gaia.

[Graeme Dice]

I just checked, and nature magic has no apparent effect on regeneration. A N10 wyrm with 160 hitpoints regenerates 16 hit points per turn, while a wyrm with no magic regenerates the same.

[NTJedi]

If Belcarl is going with a nature wyrm he should switch its magic paths to make sure it can eventually cast strength of gaia.

[Belcarl]

The N4 was for the Naiad bless, since I could have sworn those were sacred. Without it the points are probably better spent on Air or Earth magic.